BY CRYSTAL WONG
Electra House opened for the first time in August 1965.
When it opened it was completely a different affair as Sarawak was only two years in being a part of Malaysia.
Hundreds and thousands of commuters from all over the area still passed through the bus depot that was once the centre of town.
There on the site, Kuching received its first modern shopping mall, which was designed by two Singapore architects Swan and Maclaren.
The mall, located at Jalan Power, was the first shopping mall in Kuching. In its glory days, people from all over Kuching and outside the city would flock to the mall to buy supplies, clothing, get a haircut and also to hang out.
The mall got its name Electra from the idea of building Kuching’s first and also tallest electrical power station in Kuching 1922.
Beside the bus depot, where many students and adults poured in from every area of the countryside, was and still is sited the culinary delights of Open Air market. The area was totally handmade for the youthful spirits which made the mall an instant success during its glory days.
During its peak of perfection, Electra housed the most eminent and most complete cool shops Kuching had to offer. Salon shops, traditional tailor shops, watch shops, shoe shops – all were there. It used to have a MAS office where they would display its airplane models. There was also a photo studio, where families and friends would get their photos taken.
Electra House was as its peak at the year 1976 when the mall was full with outlets and people of all ages, backgrounds and creeds would come.
The peak of the mall lasted well into the 1970s. In the 80s a trickle of other modern malls began to erode and youthful energies went further and further out into the dormitory area; this caused Electra House along with the entire town to diminish into antiquation.
So gone were the days where it was the most visited place. With newer malls that provided more services and comfort, the place began to see drastic drop in visitors.
Many outlets moved out and so were its people too. Some outlets would come and go whereas some stayed for as long as 20 years in the mall. The Electra Mall nowadays has only 16 outlets left, including salons and tailor shops.
The shops that keep their popularity are the salon shops; they have seen many customers and are able to conclude that all ages of people still visit this mall. Most of these are the old people who are already regular customers who still come and have a haircut. The prime time of these shops was said to be in 2004 where the shop had great business compared to 10 years later.
Today Electra Houses is one kind of conundrum to city planners, just like some other landmarks in Kuching.
There are many attractions located around the mall, the Old Courthouse, which is now a restaurant, oldest police station, India Street with its clothing supplies which some having operated for over 60 years.
There is also the open-air market right opposite the mall which offers many delicious culinary delights especially the Gula Apong Ice Cream stall. There are also numerous aesthetically Instagram worthy wall paintings around it.
Due to the paucity of heritage laws, these less venerable structures like the mall itself are at risks. The mall could even be demolished anytime.
Shop owners are now only waiting for its time to come, but till then the suggestions to everyone out there for the improvement of the Electra Mall is to have more events organised in the mall so that it will attract more visitor.
Memories of Electra House will last a while more yet, as long as there are people to recount them.
